Sooooo Irritated Right Now!!!

I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but somehow it always gets under my skin when some non-parrot person doesn't have a clue what they are talking about!

My Mom's friend (I have known her for years and years) told Mom last night how "birds aren't affectionate like cats and dogs are"!!!

I guess Sandy had asked my Mom how Zilla was doing and Mom was telling her about all we have been through, but Zilla is doing much better now and really bonding with me. How she is a spoiled little brat, and the noises she makes that my Mom LOVES, and Mom was telling her how attached I am to Zilla. Sandy popped off with "well birds aren't affectionate like cats and dogs are, they just sit in a cage and make messes and scream all the time, so I don't know why she (meaning me) even has it or bothers spending money on it" !!!!!

Zilla wants nothing more on this earth than to be on my shoulder kissing/preening me! She would probably sleep in my bed with me if I would let her.

She sleeps on my shoulder every evening with her head in my ear "purring" (yes, I swear she purrs) makes it really hard to hear the TV!

I don't have words to comfort you right now but I understand your feelings.

Oh just don't take seriously all the morons! Her stupid attitude is not YOUR problem. I heard so many ridiculous stuff about birds! I know, I get so pissed off too when I hear something like this, but people are still very undereducated about parrots and are unwilling to learn.

Don't let it bug you. YOU know the truth

I agree, don't let uninformed people bother you. I am just thankful she does not have a parrot.

It really scares me how people takes on these animals without having any idea what they are taking on what the birdies needs etc.

I was in a petshop the other day, buying more toys to earmarked for destruction by my two. In the shop there were a CAG and Ekkie for sale. While browsing a man comes in to look at buying a parrot. Then he asked the shop assistant "are these the male and female of the same kind of parrot?"

I was horrified. Not even basic knowledge but he wants to take on a parrot?

I turned to the assistant that was helping me and said to her that there was no way that man should be allowed to purchase a parrot!

She assured me they would not sell to someone like that. Then told me of a man who came in to buy an African grey for his two year old son! Insane! Aparantly he was extremely abusive and upset when they refused to sell to him as well.

Some people are just idiots. Rather be glad your mom's friend haven't decided to get one for herself.

I'm sorry, Amanda. You're mom's friend didn't give much thought to what she was saying. She has no experience with birds so she doesn't know what she's talking about. I have dogs and birds, I love them all. The woman's right, animals are affectionate in different ways. When I play fetch with my dogs, they go after the ball, when I play fetch with the parrots, I get to chase the ball. When my dogs kiss me in the face, I need a washcloth, when my parrots kiss me on the cheek, it feels like butterfly wings. When my dogs want something, they bark and dance, when my parrots want something they yell orders in English. I've never had a dog sit on my shoulder and purr in my ear but I love it when my birds do. My dogs don't call the parrots to them and throw food at them. When I give my dogs a favorite treat, they don't actually giggle between bites. When I call my dogs they land at my feet, my parrots land on my arm. My birds and my dogs make me smile every day. Just laugh because non bird lovers don't know what we know.

Just a thought...
As we get older we tend to speak our minds before we really realize what we've said. My mother used to do it all the time. I have now caught myself doing the same thing because sometimes I think that at my age...I don't really care what other people think about what I'm saying. BUT Amanda I do care about you and I'm sorry that someone hurt your feelings.

Alee, I've never had a dog sit on my shoulder and purr before either, but that would be interesting! LOL

I do LOVE it when Zilla does though!

I have cats and Zilla, and they all love me in their own ways. I've had dogs before and loved them just as much as my cats and Zilla.

It's just frustrating when someone who doesn't have a clue has to open their mouth and insert their foot!

Amanda_Bennett said:

My Mom's friend (I have known her for years and years) told Mom last night how "birds aren't affectionate like cats and dogs are"!!!

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No. It's more like human toddlers....

Occasionally, it's like a psychotic lover or stalker...

BUT YOU ONLY GET THAT IF YOU WORK WITH THEM AND THEY BOND WITH YOU. IF YOU CAN'T BE BOTHERED, NEITHER CAN THEY...

Oh, and with those people, "Never try and teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig. She has made her mind up that all they do is scream and make a mess, and the facts would only serve to confuse her."

Amanda_Bennett said:

It's just frustrating when someone who doesn't have a clue has to open their mouth and insert their foot!

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She's just trying to "BE HELPFUL" and "EDUCATE YOU" so that you make wiser pet choices in the future... and she didn't even realize her toes were getting wet. (Must be the affect of all that hot air. Works like a blow dryer sometimes!)

NEVER TRY TO TEACH A PIG TO SING...

miloslave said:

Then told me of a man who came in to buy an African grey for his two year old son! Insane! Aparantly he was extremely abusive and upset when they refused to sell to him as well.

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Well, if the adult was caring for it that's one thing. I can only assume that no rational human being would expect a two year old to be able to meet the care needs of a goldfish (we named him "floater"), much less a CAG...

Two year old fingers and CAG beaks?! There WILL be blood!

Hey we did a rehome on a GREENWING one time. They bought the bird because they re-did their McMansion in a tropical theme, and the bird matched the curtains in their game room perfectly... What's more tropical than a macaw?! And we're the only one on the block whose got one... (which makes us special!)

So they put the bird cage next to the curtains, and guess what happened?!

And apparently IT was LOUD, and it POOPED (a lot), and threw food.

Handle it?! We thought it stayed in the cage! What do you mean we have to let it out. I don't want THAT THING flying around my house.

And these people were "COLLEGE EDUCATED PROFESSIONALS!"

Because we wouldn't want a baby macaw going to anyone IGNORANT!

It's frustrating, but it will ALWAYS be this way unfortunately. It stems from that people naturally identify with mammals, maybe because we are mammals. Mammal pets are just inherently more "like us" physically, so many cannot imagine that a non-mammal can possess these qualities that we parrot parronts know about.

Because of this, I always think that if a beloved bird passes, it's best to say at workplaces that it was your dog, or human relative to keep from getting ridiculed.

RavensGryf said:

Mammal pets are just inherently more "like us" physically...

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DID YOU JUST CALL ME A DOG?!

It always makes me remember back to when I first got Bert my parakeet and how P*&^%$#@*&^'s OFF my Mom was when I brought him home. I was 15 and had talked my boyfriend into getting him for me, a huge cage, toys, food, treats, the WHOLE shebang! I was on cloud nine walking into the house with him, and so proud of myself, then Mom BLEW up!!! All about how loud and messy he was gonna be and how it was gonna be my responsibility to take care of him and clean up after him and keep him entertained so he wouldn't scream. All he was gonna do is sit in his cage and make noise all day and throw seed all over.

It took about 5 or 6 months and then one day I came home from school and noticed his cage was open and he wasn't in it! I called and looked in all his favorite places, but nothing. Walked into the kitchen crying, thinking he was gone, had somehow gotten out of his cage and flew out the door or something, and there he was with my Mom!!! She lost track of time and forgot to put him back in his cage before I got home!

I found out later she had been having him out with her while I was at school! She had learned by watching him with me that he could and did show love and he was fun to play with, so she started playing with him and letting him hang out with her while she did housework all day!

I think that's why Mom has been so super supportive about me getting Zilla and all we have been through in the couple months I've had her. She even makes special trips to bring Zilla things and visit with her (who cares if I'm here or not?)

People have no idea just how sweet these birds can be, Bella (my B&G) loves to sit on my shoulder and preen my hair, sit on my chest and give kisses, preen my eyelashes, purrs, rolls over for tummy rubs etc. You have to ignore the people who don't understand, it's their loss! I've lost count how many times I've heard " Really? It's just a bird!"

You can't fix stupid!

Birdman666 said:

RavensGryf said:

Mammal pets are just inherently more "like us" physically...

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DID YOU JUST CALL ME A DOG?!

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HAHAHA well..... Not directly Mark. But you can interpret that however you'd like :54::18:
No seriously though, for examle... Dogs have all the same organs as us, can receive a good percentage of the same meds as us, they have hair, etc. I have yet to meet a person with a proventriculus, gizzard, who lays eggs, and has scaly feet... Well, some people may have scaly feet but that's not the point :52:

Words spoken out of ignorance I may not be a dog or cat person and would never own one myself, but I have no doubts they can form strong bonds with their owners and be perfectly delightful, loving pets for the right person (that person just isn't me). Unfortunately, many people feel if THEY wouldn't have that type of animal, it is irritating, incapable of love and a big waste of space. Parrots are probably one of the most misunderstood 'common' pets, right up there with reptiles and aquatics. People either look at them as wholly disposable decorative objects to blend in with a tropical theme OR at some point owned one and never researched/bothered to treat the poor bird right and ended up with a really really unpleasant animal and now judge ALL parrots as really unpleasant. Just ignore her comments like that because people like that have their minds closed, locked and threw away the key a LONG time ago!

At my old job, I used to have a picture of Kiwi up on this 'wall' in the store where everyone else had pictures of their kids/grandkids ext... (as I do not have kids). People would comment all the time about 'how they had a parrot once' and launch into this whole story about (as Mark said) "that thing screamed and pooped and chewed stuff up and s/he was so mean and I just didn't understand why s/he tried to bite me all the time!". Gee, I wonder I also encountered a "bought my parrot as a decoration" person once too. She actually sounded kind of like she missed the bird as she told me about how she got rid of it because it no longer matched her decor*eye twitching a little* I mean, come on, here are perfectly lovely parrot statues out there if you want parrot decor, but a live animal is NEVER decorative!

People are so ignorant. Just because you haven't had much experience with a certain type of animal, why write them off and generalize? I run into way too many people who "hate" cats and think they are "a-holes" to count, and it makes me so sad (generally I don't meet people who actively dislike birds...usually they just don't know too much about them and are curious).

Kiwibird said:

I also encountered a "bought my parrot as a decoration" person once too. She actually sounded kind of like she missed the bird as she told me about how she got rid of it because it no longer matched her decor!

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This got me so hot under the collar!

I spoke to a lady the other day who told me "we also have an African grey, but I want nothing to do with that thing." A bird is not just a thing! My heart bled for the poor bird.

Birdman: I agree, bit what happens once there is a two year old with bloody fingers? Birdie gets to stay in its cage forever, if not given away like a broken toy. It is just sad.

I don't think any of us will claim to know everything there is to know about our feathered friends, but at least make an effort to gain a little bit of knowledge before bringing one of these sensitive creatures into your home, right?